Aldermen to consider public financing for mayoral elections

NEW HAVEN  A proposed ordinance on its way to the Board of Aldermen would make New Haven the first municipality in the state to offer partial public financing for mayoral campaigns.

Tara York

Published
12:00 am EST, Sunday, November 16, 2003

Alderman Carl Goldfield, D-29, and leaders from several community and civic organizations, will propose this week that the city invest about $100,000 of taxpayers' money on a campaign finance reform program.

Under the proposal, candidates for mayor could volunteer to get a $2 match for every $1 raised for the first $25 of each contribution.

Mayoral hopefuls would have to prove their viability as candidates by generating 200 contributions between $25 and $300 each from local contributors.

The eligible candidates must follow several rules, including a spending cap of $200,000, no contributions greater than $300 and no money from political action committees.

Participating candidates must also take part in a public debate.

The intent of the campaign finance reform, dubbed the "New Haven Democracy Fund" ordinance, is to increase local taxpayers' influence over campaigns, rather than money-rich contractors.

"I've been concerned for a long time about the fact that the perception is you've got to pay to play, and you have to make contributions to get work from the city," Goldfield said. "That's always bothered me, accompanied by the fact there's a certain momentum going to the incumbents (who typically raise more money). There are probably interesting smaller voices to be heard."

Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said he supports Goldfield's proposal, even though he has raised significantly more than his opponents in recent years  and has won.

Most of his campaign contributions this year, as in past years, came from contractors, many of them from out of town.

"National, state and local financing campaigns through public resources remove the substance and appearance of conflict in the conduct of business by public officials," DeStefano said.

"On a personal level, I feel that you get judged in the end on the job you do, and I'm willing to compete in that system."

"Anything like that lends support to a real Democratic process," said Sherri Killins, who lost the Democratic primary to DeStefano in September after raising significantly less than the five-term mayor. "Anything to make campaigning more efficient and less related to cost is effective."

The Citizens for the New Haven Democracy Fund, a coalition of about eight community and civic groups, supports the ordinance.

"Today, if you want to run in New Haven, you need a large amount of personal resources, or must raise them to compete effectively," said Daniel Weeks, a spokesman for the group, and a member of one of the participating organizations, Yale Students for Clean Elections.

He said the 2001 mayoral election was particularly a concern, where DeStefano, failed primary opponent State Sen. Martin Looney and Republican Joel Schiavone together spent more than $1 million on the race in a city that has only slightly more than 100,000 residents.

Looney said he had proposed during that campaign that candidates voluntarily agree on a spending cap, but to no avail.

"Now it's in the incentive of the candidate to raise large contributions, so we've seen candidates go outside of New Haven," Weeks said. "We feel elections need to be about the (local) voter."

Weeks said this would be the first public financing system in the state, and the 15th municipality to develop such a program in the country. Goldfield said he wants the city's initiative to be the impetus for the state and federal governments to do the same.

"What's fascinating is, I get the feeling they always talk about the state being the laboratory for the federal government," Goldfield said. "I think the cities can be a laboratory too."

The proposal would hinge on the state legislature adopting enabling legislation allowing candidates to accept the public money for a campaign. The state failed to pass a similar measure last year.

"I have been a longtime supporter of campaign finance reform, and public financing in particular," said Looney, who introduced a public financing bill that passed the Senate, but not the House.

He did, however, successfully pass other reform measures, including a requirement that anyone who donates more than $400 must disclose if they have a contract with the city.

State Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, has mixed opinions on the city proposal, which she heard about for the first time through the press last Wednesday.

Harp said she supports campaign finance reform, and would consider supporting this particular measure, but is also interested in other avenues, including simply putting a cap (about $50,000) on what candidates are allowed to spend.

"The taxpayers of the city of New Haven will pay $100,000 for campaign finance when they can't pay for sidewalks?" Harp said. She said that simply forcing a spending cap "might be a better way to do it, than to use tax dollars."

She said state legislators, when they tried to pass campaign finance reform for state races, felt that it would be too expensive to come up with matching funds.

Goldfield said the money is a small investment, considering the amount of taxpayers' money already spent on the voting process, including registrars of voters salaries and labor involved with preparing elections.

About $100,000 a year would translate into about 80 cents per resident, city officials estimate.